Asian defense stocks extended a two-day winning streak amid mixed trading in the region, as investors continued to assess geopolitical risks in the wake of the U.S. attack on Venezuela and renewed rhetoric over Greenland.
Shares of Kawasaki Heavy Industries declined 1.1 percent in Japan. South Korea’s Korea Aerospace dropped 1.62 percent, while Poongsan slipped 4.98 percent. Hanwha Aerospace gained up to 1.76 percent.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Tuesday that President Donald Trump and his team were considering “a range of options” to obtain Greenland, including “utilizing the U.S. Military.”
The statement also intensifies the aggressive rhetoric of the Trump administration regarding Greenland, a territory the president has long sought to annex to the United States.
In the other markets, the ASX/S&P 200 of Australia improved by 0.38 percent following the domestic inflation, which was lower than what was anticipated. The Consumer Price Index increased 3.4 percent compared to the previous year in November, missing Reuters’ projections of up to 3.7 percent, and below October’s 3.8 percent inflation.
Ease of inflation in the month also stood at the same point as it was in October, which indicates that price pressures could be dwindling, and the argument in support of interest rate hikes could also be calming down.
Therefore, the Japanese benchmark of the Nikkei 225 fell 0.45 percent, and the Topix fell 0.63 percent. The Kospi of South Korea surged 1.89 percent, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.12 percent.
The stock of South Korean Hyundai Motors increased more than 11 percent, and the gains were further extended in a sixth consecutive session. In an announcement made on Tuesday, the company intended to implement humanoid robots in U.S. factories by 2028.
However, the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong fell 0.43 percent, and the mainland CSI 300 gained 0.13 percent. U.S. crude futures contracts decreased by 1.3 percent to $56.39 per barrel after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela would sell 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States.
The statements were made after a weekend operation where the U.S troops had captured the former leader Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. equity futures did not change much during the early Asian hours.
The stocks improved overnight, as far as investors seemed to ignore the Venezuela operation in the U.S. The S&P 500 increased 0.62 percent, achieving a record close of 6,944.82. It also registered a new all-time high in session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 484.90 points, or 0.99 percent, to an intraday all-time high and settled at a record of 49,462.08. The Nasdaq Composite surged 0.65 percent and ended at 23,547.17.
